Well, I've had a lot on my mind lately, fully intending to put it to 'print' but I've been spending my free time playing poker. I'm chipping away at the bonus at Full Tilt but I may just abandon it and pull the funds out of there. There just aren't enough games yet, few tournies, and the sit-and-go's, although soft, can be slow to fill. They have a $10 "invitation only" multi that gives you the opportunity to play with a "pro" but no information how one gets invited to those parties. So, I may make a run at adding a few more dollars to the bankroll there, abandon the bonus, and pull out.
I'm more interested in turning my attention to multi-table tournaments, specifically satellites. I made a decent stab at a $10 + $1 at a Party Million IV satellite making it to the last two tables and then went out at 13th out of 167 when I bungled a hand with a pair of pocket deuces. The top 6 players received entry to the big qualifier. I can use the Full Tilt stash to apply toward those efforts. My confidence in my tournament game is building the more tournaments in which I reach the later stages. It may just not be a fluke. Jury's still out though.
I've also been spending time reading many blogs - which doesn't leave much time for writing! There's a ton of them now. While I had some thoughts on recent WSOP episodes, I found many of the write ups did the job far better than my attempts would have been. Otis' article On capital "K" Karma regarding Mr. Matasow is excellent. StudioGlyphic gave a nice stroke to my ego with a nice shout out to this mish-mash of musings. His is a site I discovered long ago and make frequent visits to - there's more than just poker there and some of the linkups he provides can take you to some interesting and provocative places. I followed one link one day that took me to the site of a German flash/gif animator - Hans somebody - I spent a good chunk of an afternoon exploring that guy's strange animations. I wish I could remember which post had the link - maybe StudioGlyphic will point the way again. Additionally, I like his politics. And why I hadn't thought to link up before, I don't know. Thanks again, Mr. Glyphic!
A belated and hearty 'congratulations' to Felicia for taking third in the 7-card-stud event at the 4 Queens Poker Classic. I want to pause a moment and say that Felicia was my inspiration to get serious about poker. I discovered her posts on the Untied Poker Forum and enjoyed her stories about the Belle and the people there. Her blog was the first one I found shortly after I started this one and through her blog I discovered the - then - small community of folks writing about this game. It's been a lesson to read her posts and watch her growth as a player honing her 'A' game. Her tournament write-ups are excellent. There is no doubt in my mind that she will be joining the cadre of World Class Players before any of us can say "all in." She's tough, competent and an example to follow.
And, finally, I'd like to take a page from F-train and just say how pleased I am to be a part of this little community. The encouragement and support I've gotten from so many of you is truly appreciated. Coming from such diverse backgrounds and spanning a couple of generations it speaks to the universality of this game called poker - anyone can play it and anyone can win. We share in each other's triumphs and wince with each other's bad beats; celebrate new lives coming into the world and sweat out impending threats when one or more of us may be in harm's way. We play hard and are politically diverse, but we leave those chips off the table. We gain greater insight to this game with analysis, opinion and creative examination. And that's just a scratch of the felt. Can you imagine what a room full of "us" would look like?
'Til next time - keep those cards in the air!
